Raising Awareness

Raising Awareness

by Lindy Jurack
Independent Collegian (University of Toledo)
3/17/05

A new organization is being formed at UT to raise global discussion and awareness on campus.

Americans for Informed Democracy is a non-partisan, global organization.

UT is joining more than 175 universities in 10 countries by opening a chapter of AID this spring.

The national organization, which focuses on the United Nations, was started by Seth Green, a student at Yale Law School, in response to 9/11, according to Laura Hampton, acting president of UT-AID, who is also a graduate assistant in the education department at UT.

Involvement in UT-AID is a requirement for Dr. Lynne Hamer's socio-cultural analyses of teaching and schooling class, which is required for students majoring in education.

"This class focuses on the relationship between school and community, and we thought, as a department, we wanted to get more involved in community activities," Hampton said.

Most of the students have seemed to appreciate UT-AID as well, she said.

"At first the students were resistant, they said, 'What are we doing this for?'" she said. "But now two-thirds of them have come around and said, 'Oh, now I see how I can use this in my classroom and school.'"

And Hamer said this is the kind of mindset she'd like to see in students.

"I think it's great that these education students - future teachers - are reclaiming the role of teacher as community leader in creating space for people with different views and different backgrounds to come together, learn from each other and then move toward influencing local and national policies and practices," she said.

But the group isn't just for education majors.

About 50 people attended UT-AID's first meeting two weeks ago. They included students, professors and non-student community members, according to Hampton.

The national chapter of AID has different topics students in UT-AID can discuss or the group can choose its own subjects, she said.

"We're starting with what does it mean to be a democracy, what is democratic education or education for democracy and why does it matter," Hamer said. "We can take [AID's] issues and make them into something that suits us locally.

"We'd like the local issues to tie to the national issues to tie to the international issues, because they do. Everything affects everything else."

Once the organization builds up, UT-AID will discuss more international issues and have video conferences, Hampton said.

About 50 people attended UT-AID's first meeting a few weeks ago.

Not only students from the class were at the meeting, but also students from other organizations, professors and non-student community members, according to Hampton.

The next meeting is scheduled for Monday.

A town hall meeting is scheduled for April 11. The focus of the meeting is democratic education and how teachers can inform themselves to teach students to be actively involved in their community, Hampton said.

The free, public meeting will include guest speakers, a question-and-answer session and time to debate, Hampton said.

UT-AID members are planning to set up monthly meetings, Hampton said. Check out www.aidemocracy.org for more information.